Does a BSN degree equate to a higher salary for RNs?

These days, it seems as though the majority of news about the nursing industry focuses on the need for nurses to obtain a bachelor’s degree.

If you’re new to the industry, this means many employers expect you to have a BSN before you even fill out an application. Even many experienced nurses feel the need to go back to school and earn a bachelor’s degree as a form of job security.

As a result, more than 600 nursing schools have introduced RN to BSN degrees for working nurses, according to the New York Times. Enrollment in online courses has jumped from under 30,000 to nearly 90,000 in just 10 years, illustrating the need for nurses to continue working while earning advanced degrees.

For new nurses, community colleges have been begun partnering with four-year schools to make sure graduates are competitive in the job market. If you are considering going back to school, you can learn more about which schools offer online courses and much more in our Nurse’s Guides to Nursing Schools.

But how much do degrees influence the salary of nurses? In our latest nurse salary report, we used PayScale.com to show what nurses are making by job, but these job titles don’t always represent the degrees held by the nurses that hold the title.

Though it seems pretty clear that a BSN is an important credential for all nurses, we want to look at how much the degree affects the average salary of RNs. Take a look on the next page.

Next: Salary difference between associate’s and bachelor’s degrees →